| December 29, 2006 -- ADLA's comments in opposition to proposed mountain lion hunt on KOFA National
Wildlife Refuge Click here for more information
April 8, 2004 -- Public comments needed to support stronger
protections in the Arizona Game & Fish Department's proposed
mountain lion hunting guidelines. Full
alert details
SPECIAL
REPORT
For more information about mountain lions in Arizona, including
an in-depth special report, visit ADLA's
lion website.
Lion
Mismanagement In Arizona
|
Game
& Fish's Flawed History of Lion Management
*
In 2001, lion hunting was permitted in 75 of 79 Game
Management Units (GMUs) in the state though lions were
not killed by hunters in each open GMU. Lions can be
killed year-round in Arizona and female lions with dependent
kittens receive no protection. In other words, unlike
other western states where lion kittens and female lions
with kittens are protected, a hunter in Arizona can
kill an adult female even if the hunter knows the female
has dependent kittens – resulting in the orphaning
and eventual death of the kittens by predation, exposure,
or starvation. Lion hunters are limited to one lion
per year except in certain GMUs where hunters can kill
multiple lions until a “harvest objective”
is reached. In some cases, hunters can continue to kill
lions in excess of the “harvest objective.”
*
Arizona has a mandatory reporting requirement for successful
lion hunters, but this mandate only requires hunters
to call the Game and Fish Department (AGFD) to report
a lion kill. Unlike other western states that require
the physical inspection of the lion carcass by a state
official, Arizona’s telephone-call-only standard
is fraught with problems including no possible means
of obtaining an accurate count on the number, sex, age,
condition, or lactational status of lions killed annually
by hunters.
*
The AGFD methodology for estimating lion population
size in each GMU is entirely subjective and easily manipulated.
The AGFD estimates are based on a subjective determination
of the amount of high, medium, and low quality lion
habitat in each GMU which are then multiplied by a range
of lion density factors taken from the scientific literature
to produce high and low population estimates. The corruption
inherent to this process is evidenced by the data from
GMU 22 where the high lion population estimate increased
from 73.5 to 116.8 from 1997 to 1998. This was not a
real increase in lions, but was an increase in “paper
lions” manufactured by the AGFD by increasing the
amount of high quality lion habitat from 31.9 to 1062.7
square miles from 1997 to 1998.
*
From 1982 through 2001, 4178 lions were killed by hunters
in Arizona with a high of 327 lions killed in 2001 alone.
The annual average number of lions killed increased
from 153 between 1982 and 1985 to 273.7 between 1996
and 2001. The percentage of female lions killed exceeded
40 percent (the level that some believe is the maximum
percentage of female lions that can be killed without
harming the lion populations) 17 of those 20 years.
For lions killed from 1994 through 2000, 60 to 70 percent
were killed with the use of dogs – a highly controversial
and unsporting lion hunting method. For lions killed
from 1995 through 1999, 72 to 85 percent were killed
between January and March and between October and December.
*
In
the GMU 22 experiment, 11 lions have been killed to
date by lion hunters, and AGFD wants hunters to kill
3 to 4 more lions this winter. The AGFD has not yet
initiated any trapping or snaring of lions in the study
area, but may do so in the spring and/or if a bighorn
sheep is killed in an area inaccessible to hunters.
Potential legal options to stop this experiment continue
to be explored.
|
 Mountain
lions (also known as cougars, pumas, or catamounts) have inhabited
Arizona’s wild lands for centuries. Except for the grizzly
bear — a species blasted into extinction in Arizona in
1935 — the lion is likely the most maligned and mismanaged
large predator in the state.
For
decades, lions were persecuted with no restrictions by hunters
and government officials, who viewed the lion as the devil
incarnate: an elusive silent killer who killed livestock,
competed with hunters for prized game animals, consumed the
occasional dog or cat, and posed a grave threat to humans.
In those days, lions were not managed based on any scientific
evidence but rather on the interests and influence of the
livestock industry.
Today,
while increasing knowledge about the biology and ecology of
lions has exposed the inappropriateness of our past prejudices
against this magnificent species, lion mismanagement continues
unabated in Arizona. The Arizona Game and Fish Department
has no earthly idea how many lions live in Arizona, does not
know what impact hunting has on the lion populations in the
state, and has blatantly failed to use anything resembling
scientific evidence to manage the lion population. Furthermore,
livestock interests and influence continue to play a significant
role in dictating lion management policies – not a surprising
fact considering that the current Arizona Game and Fish Commission
(the five-member body who sets wildlife management policy)
is dominated by pro-livestock interests.
ADLA
has previously reported on the unjustified and scientifically
questionable study of lions in Game Management Unit (GMU)
22, where 75 percent of the lions have been killed. Since
1999, 11 of the alleged 16 lions in the study area have been
killed. While Game and Fish was authorized to kill 12 each
year, the agency as, through sport hunting, largely met its
goal. The AGFD wants hunters to kill 3-4 lions this winter.
If that is achieved then it will not initiate snaring and
trapping unless a sheep is killed in an area inaccessible
to hunters in order to assess the impact on a bighorn sheep
population. This travesty is a microcosm of lion mismanagement
statewide. A comprehensive report on lion management in Arizona
has recently been completed. Some of the findings from the
report are presented at right along with a brief update on
the status of the GMU 22 experiment.
Despite
a growing amount of scientific evidence demonstrating a lack
of biological justification for lion hunting, the Game and
Fish Department and Commission are ignoring this evidence,
preferring to continue to expand lion hunting opportunities
in the state. Considering it has no valid estimate of the
size of the statewide, regional, or local lion populations;
no valid data on the age structure, sex composition, productivity
rates, and survival rates of lions in these populations; and
no means of understanding how hunting is impacting these populations,
the AGFD is grossly mismanaging Arizona’s lions. While
the situation is deplorable, it is hardly surprising given
the anti-predator bias still alive and well within the department
and commission and the pro-livestock mindset of the majority
of the current commissioners.
ADLA
is not content to let the AGFD continue to mismanage Arizona’s
lions and is developing a lion protection campaign. Additional
information about this campaign and how you can help save
Arizona’s lions will be featured in future newsletters
and other mailings. To help ADLA save Arizona’s lions,
please consider making a donation to ADLA.
BY
DJ SCHUBERT
|
